


Kid to His Flash

by TheDefenderoftheFaith



Category: Justice League, Justice League Unlimited
Genre: Closure, F/M, Family, Friendship, Tragedy, amazing father figures, answering questions the writers will not, hard angst, hurt/debatable comfort, secrets to light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-11
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 23:13:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,760
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26625742
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDefenderoftheFaith/pseuds/TheDefenderoftheFaith
Summary: It was 13 years ago, and when Wally ran faster than sound, he did it with wind whipping through his hair. He was ten years old, and Flash’s shadow was as much a comforting fortress as it was the outreaching of a near-unattainable deity.Wally was Kid Flash, once upon a time, and the Flash was his mentor and idol, Barry Allen. It had seemed like it would be that way forever. As it happens, if you run fast enough, forever can turn into the blink of an eye.Set in the Justice League Unlimited Verse.
Relationships: Barry Allen & Bruce Wayne, Barry Allen & Hal Jordan, Barry Allen & Wally West, Barry Allen/Iris West, Wally West & Bruce Wayne, Wally West & Iris West
Comments: 1
Kudos: 48





	1. Chapter 1

_ July 23, 2003 (Present Day) _

“Hey, Bats, think you can check this out for me?” Wally zipped beside Batman, single break lightning bolt glinting in the light as he held something that looked like a remote control out for the Dark Knight to inspect. 

Batman fingered the object curiously. “What is it?”

“Basically, a super futuristic tv remote. And flash drive. It belongs to Abra Kadabra; you know, the magican bad-guy I’ve got from the future?”

Wally could’ve sworn he saw something flicker over Batman’s face, but you could never tell. 

“He’s one of your earliest villains.”

“Right. Born in the 64th century, uses futuristic tech to be a big pain back in the  _ now _ . ‘Cause, for some reason he was all like: ‘I gotta go stalk the Flash like a weirdo so I can do a bunch of evil stuff to him and-’

“‘Stalk the Flash?’”

“Yeah, for years. He had a bunch of basically invisible tiny cameras everywhere that he’d use to keep tabs on his great speedy arch-nemesis and also, y’know, case joints and whatever.”

“Why bring this to me? Kadabra hasn’t bothered you for a while, has he?”

“Nah, but I totally found one of his old hideouts recently, and this,” Flash pointed the remote, “was labeled as super-uber-extra important! So, I figured I’d run it up here and see if the ol’ team computer can crack these babies open ‘cause the laptop I have is  _ not  _ going to run this thing.” 

Batman inspected the gadget closer, then nodded. “What should I expect to happen?”

Wally adopted a thinking pose. “Well, Kadabra is all about putting on a show. Everything needs to be just like a performance for him. So, if this was important footage to him, and he’s had it for a while, then I bet it’s been spliced together like a performance.”

“Your villains are so dramatic.” Batman stalked over to the Watchtower’s main computer, and started plugging in the remote. Wally spluttered. 

“ _ My _ villains?  _ My  _ villains are dramatic? Hi kettle, I’m pot!”

Batman didn’t deign this with a verbal response, only grunting before allowing the computer to whir it’s way through processing the advanced technology. 

The main view screen flickered to life, and a red blur solidified into a man with a double break lightning bolt on his chest and wings on his ears, blue eyes glinting in the sun through his open mask. 


	2. Chapter 2

_ March 15, 1990 (Flashback) _

It was 13 years ago, and when Wally ran faster than sound he did it with wind whipping through his hair. 

He was ten years old, and Flash’s shadow was as much a comforting fortress as it was the outreaching of a near-unattainable deity. 

He  _ fought crime _ with his uncle Barry, even if there wasn’t anything  _ that _ bad in Central City. A few weirdos, like Abra Kadabra, but mostly just jewelry thieves and carjackers. 

Still, a life of whizzing purse-snatchers into police precincts and rescuing kittens from trees was beyond exciting. 

And anyway. Things could always be counted on to take a turn for the exciting when Uncle Hal came to visit. 

“Back off, Slimeball!” A pulsating green fist slammed the alien’s head backward as Green Lantern blazed above it, fist raised as if delivering the punch itself. The alien, slightly taller than a human, and almost insectoid, but with the longest teeth Wally had ever seen on an  _ anything _ staggered as Flash drummed his feet on the ground, sending vibrations shuddering through the concrete of the warehouse floor. 

Unbalanced, the alien stumbled backward, and Flash took the opportunity to dash forward, slicing through it’s poisoned talons with a vibrating hand. 

One day, Wally would be confident enough that he wouldn’t destabilize and explode his target’s molecules to try that trick himself. 

“Sick ‘em, Kid!” Green Lantern cheered, and Wally grinned because Kid was  _ him _ ; Kid Flash and he was fighting the crime (interplanetary crime!) with Uncle Hal and Uncle Barry and this was just the  _ coolest _ thing any kid could have ever dreamed of!

Wally dashed forward and landed a hundred pummeling blows on the smooth, tough hide of his opponent, Uncle Barry keeping a watchful eye for any sudden dangers. 

Wally kept his knees bent and his chin down and kept his core strong, just like Uncle Hal always said, because it wasn’t enough to punch fast; you had to punch well, and he could totally see that it was  _ working _ and he was doing it and the alien-criminal-convict-person was going down! 

Wally leapt into the air, doubled his fists together and smashed them down on top of the tough head, allowing himself to land lightly on the ground. 

He fell back into normal time just as the thing spit some kind of acid at him, which splattered uselessly off Green Lantern’s quick-acting shield.

The alien tried to stagger to its feet, tried to duplicate into another copy of itself, but Uncle Barry fell into relative time and  _ tugged _ at Wally to do the same. 

Kid Flash looked up into Flash’s eyes, and Uncle Barry grinned, starting to dart backward. “With me, Kid Flash!”

Wally obeyed unthinkingly, already falling into step beside his hero. 

“You set him up and I’ll fry him!”

Wally nodded, grinning, and ran in a wide circle to get up to speed before dashing up to land a haymaker on the alien’s jaw, knocking him back to expose his vulnerable underside. Flash dashed over to the wires that sent electricity into the overhead lights and yanked them apart, before darting to either side of the electricity, moving fast enough to be a blur that even Kid Flash couldn’t follow. 

Wally ducked out of the way, and Flash guided the full force of the electricity into the underbelly of the alien, flitting back into normal time with Wally right behind. 

The three watched the twitching alien stagger and fall, before Uncle Barry perked up in the way that meant Uncle Hal and Wally were about to be privy to a Flash Fact. 

“Lightning can’t be grabbed, because it hasn’t got any mass,” Uncle Barry espoused, looking pleased as punch. “But, Flash Fact, the flow of electrons that make up what we call electricity naturally follow the path of least resistance, leaping from atom to atom. So, all I had to do was release the electricity from it’s circuit, and create a vacuum  _ around _ the path I wanted it to take!”

Uncle Barry looked over at Wally and Uncle Hal, eyes crinkled as he waited for them to appreciate the science they had witnessed. 

“ _ Wow _ , Flash,  _ really _ ?” Uncle Hal laughed, in amusement, and adopted a dramatic pose. “I never knew! Boy, I can’t wait to tell my friends how I got to see the Flash redirect an electrical current through a vacuum!”

Uncle Barry needed to be encouraged, and, anyway, Wally thought it  _ had _ been super cool. 

“I thought it was awesome!” Wally skipped forward to hi-five Uncle Barry, who grinned at him and stuck his tongue out at Uncle Hal. “I wouldn’t ever have thought’a that!”

“ _ Thank you _ , Kid Flash; this is why you’re my favorite partner.”

Uncle Barry was joking, but Wally couldn’t help feeling a thrill at the words anyway. He perked up and sent Uncle Hal a smug look. 

Uncle Hal started to look miffed from being on the receiving end of nothing but rejection, and moved forward to get some positive attention. 

“He’s lucky to have you, Kid.” Wally grinned, with Uncle Barry’s hand on his shoulder and Uncle Hal’s hand ruffling his hair. 

“I  _ know _ ,” Wally smirked, looking up adoringly at both heroes above him. 

“Ooooh, he’s not as modest as you are, pal!” Uncle Hal shot Uncle Barry a bemused look, and Uncle Barry only shook his head and grinned in response. 

“Give him some time, he’ll get there.” Uncle Barry grinned down at Wally again, and Wally couldn’t control the smile that stole over his face. “Kid’s gonna be the greatest hero this planet’s ever seen.”  
  
Wally made a conscious effort not to blush, and tried to play off the compliment by settling his hands on his hips and making a face that said ‘well, of course I will be’, but he wasn’t sure he was fooling anybody. 

Uncle Barry clasped a hand on Uncle Hal’s shoulder, focusing his attention on him in the way that always made whoever was on the receiving end of his gaze feel like the most important person in the world. 

“Take care when you go back to Oa, pal. Don’t do anything  _ too _ crazy?”

Uncle Hal grinned, and, dropping the hand in Wally’s hair, grasped the arm Uncle Barry had on his shoulder. “Oh, you know  _ me _ , buddy. I just hope  _ you _ don’t do anything too reckless while I’m gone.”

The two men shared a chuckle, and Uncle Hal turned back to Wally. “Keep an eye on him, will ‘ya?”

Wally, nodded, hands back on his hips. “Always.”

Uncle Hal gave them a mock-salute before gathering up his quarry in an emerald net and flying away from the warehouse, leaving the two speedsters to make their way back to Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris’s house. 

Uncle Hal had been a family friend for a long time. He and Uncle Barry were best friends, and, being the only two superheroes Wally knew of, had naturally met on a mission before becoming friends for life. 

Uncle Hal would drop by Uncle Barry’s house often. Though he spent most of his time on Earth, where he lived, when he was back from space he’d usually bring some awesome space-gift for Wally with him, which Wally would keep in ‘his’ room in Uncle Barry’s house. 

‘Home’ home wasn’t the safest place to keep stuff he cared about. Or himself. He spent a lot of time with Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris, which suited him fine. He just wished he could stay there more often. 

Wally hoped Aunt Iris had made peanut butter cookies. She did, sometimes, when she knew they’d been out crime-fighting, because they were Uncle Barry’s favorite, and after they had introduced Wally to them, Wally had decided they were his favorite too. 

Sometimes, Wally would just sit and watch Uncle Barry and Aunt Iris be together. It wasn’t anything like his parents. They seemed so happy together, and so… in love. He knew sometimes people made fun of them for being corny, but Wally just hoped that one day he could marry someone like Aunt Iris. 

Someone who would love him as much as she loved Uncle Barry. Someone he could love as much as Uncle Barry loved her. He wasn’t sure if he could do it, but he knew that he really wanted to try. 

Right now, though, he and Uncle Barry had to duck through alleyways, making sure to be an near-invisible blur when they moved, because most people didn’t know Flash existed, and almost  _ nobody _ knew about Kid Flash, and if they became well-known they’d probably get in trouble with the police. 

The police got mad about ‘vigilantes’, but Uncle Barry said that one day there would be lots of superheroes out in the public inspiring and giving people hope, but that day wasn’t right now. 

Wally hoped it came soon. Sometimes he would daydream about being grown-up and running through the streets and smiling and waving at every person he met, and them smiling and waving back. 


	3. Chapter 3

_May 6, 1990 (Flashback)_

The box comes to Aunt Iris’s house, because she was a reporter. Because the typed note on the box said that The Flash would’ve wanted her to choose what to do with the box and it’s contents. With the note, and it’s words. 

Iris was a good journalist, the note said. 

She was an ethical reporter. 

It should be her.

She should be the one to be told about the death of The Flash. 

It happened during a thunderstorm. Flash was gone, saving the world from something probably too dangerous for little 10 year old Kid Flash. So Wally stayed home with Aunt Iris, and made peanut butter cookies. 

There was a thudding at the door, and Aunt Iris had jerked her attention from checking the cookies in the oven, and Wally had fallen into a defensive position because _he was the protector of the house_ (of Aunt Iris) when Uncle Barry was away. 

There were no more noises, except for the rain, and Aunt Iris moved to the front door, and pulled it open. And there was a note, typed up and laminated on top of a box. 

Wally watched Aunt Iris shift the box inside, only glancing at the note before pulling off the lid. 

The empty costume of her husband stared up at her, golden ring shimmering on top of the second break of lightning bolt. 

Aunt Iris clasped a hand over her mouth, eyes blowing wide, as she snatched the note from the floor. 

Wally felt like everything was very fuzzy. He stared at the costume in the box, empty and gaping. He knelt, and picked up Uncle Barry’s ring, holding it close to his chest. 

He looked over Aunt Iris’s shoulder and read. 

Flash was dead. He died a hero. Exactly what had happened, the writer didn’t know, except that there was no body. Disintegrated, perhaps. There were strange tachyon readings. Perhaps he had been aged into dust. Iris was a good reporter: the best Central City had. She should choose what to do with this information.

There was no name on the note.

Wally sat there, numbly, with Flash’s ring warming in his fingers, and the smell of burning cookies in the air. 

* * *

Uncle Hal had always said that if there was ever an emergency, all Wally had to do was use his signal device, and, no matter what, Uncle Hal would come running. 

Wally sat alone on a rooftop, fingering the signaler, waiting, light rain soaking him to the bone. He wore long sleeves and pants. His fingers were bare, but Uncle Barry’s ring weighed heavily in his pocket. 

He hadn’t been able to let it go. 

A green umbrella shimmered over his head, and Uncle Hal landed, looking worried. 

“Kid? What’s wrong? You hurt?”

Wally shook his head numbly. It had been weeks since… it. Before he’d finally got up and signalled for Uncle Hal to come, come now. It was all he had been able to send. 

There was a signal for ‘I’ve been kidnapped’. There was a signal for ‘Flash is down and we need you to fight somebody’. There was no signal for ‘Flash is dead’. Wally wonders why they didn’t think of that. 

He wonders if Uncle Barry or Uncle Hal did. 

“... You’re not in costume.”

Wally shook his head again, fighting back tears. He hadn’t even been able to look at the thing since… 

Uncle Hal knelt, allowing his Green Lantern costume to fall away, leaving his deep brown eyes to implore Wally to just _tell_ him what was wrong. 

“Should Uncle Barry be here?” Uncle Hal asked, gently, resting a hand on Wally’s leg.

Wally nodded, because _yes_ , but then shook his head because it was really no. Sobs started to shake his body, spasmatic and violent, but he tried to hold himself together, to go back to being numb. 

To be strong for Uncle Hal. 

Wally raised his eyes and met Uncle Hal’s gaze through greasy red bangs. 

“Uncle Barry…” it hurt too much to say. “Flash…” it felt impossible. “He… isn’t here anymore. He’s gone. He’s… dead.”

Rain strikes his face as the umbrella shatters into a million fading pieces.

Uncle Hal looks so shocked and so _hurt_ that Wally can’t bear to look at him for another second, even if it makes him a coward. 

His head drops, and he watches the rain patter back off his shoes. 

“Wh-what?” Uncle Hal’s voice is raw and hurt and bleeding, and it makes Wally want to cry so much that he finds he can’t feel anything. “Barry?”

And Wally thinks that Uncle Barry is (was) the only grown-up hero Hal knew, and now he doesn’t have anymore friends who know _who_ he is and really understand him. 

And Wally thinks about all the hours Uncle Hal would stay up talking with Uncle Barry way past Wally’s bedtime, and thinks about background conversations full of life advice Wally had never paid full attention to and thinks about the way Uncle Hal had stuck by Uncle Barry’s side like he was glued there. How he would fight so hard for attention and praise some days that Wally would want to laugh because that was what _Wally_ did, and here was Uncle Hal acting like a kid who never grew up.

Wally can’t imagine laughing again. 

“Wally!” Uncle Hal grips Wally’s shoulders, water running into his face from his brown hair, and he looks so desperate Wally just wants to give him a hug. “Wally, what _happened_?”

And Wally shakes his head because he can’t tell him, he doesn’t _know_. “I don’t know. There was a note. Aunt Iris has it. But it doesn’t say what happened. Whoever wrote it didn’t know.”

“A note?”

“Someone dropped off a note at our house. And a box. It had Uncle Barry’s uniform and...his…” Wally fishes in his pocket, makes sure he has a good hold on the object, and presents Uncle Hal with the ring. 

Uncle Hal reaches for it with trembling fingers, but Wally tugs it away without thinking. He won’t let it go. 

Uncle Hal stops reaching, and lets his hand fall down to his side. His eyes stay glued to the golden band, and his stumbling voice comes out wrecked. 

“Was anyone there?”

“The note said there probably weren’t any witnesses.”

Uncle Hal’s eyes screw shut, and he hunches in on himself, and trembles, and whatever thoughts pass through his mind, he doesn’t share them.

* * *

Aunt Iris doesn’t publish the note. She lets Wally keep the ring, and she takes the costume. Where she kept it, Wally didn’t know. But Kid Flash was banned from ever appearing again. 

Wally agrees. He doesn’t know about forever, but until he grows up, the only thing he’s ever going to do with his powers is train. And Aunt Iris isn’t even happy about that. 

She doesn’t take off her ring, and she isn’t the least bit interested in marrying anyone else. And she doesn’t want Wally to ever use his powers again. As far as she’s concerned, losing Uncle Barry was enough. 

But Wally can’t promise that. Can’t promise anything, either to leave being a hero behind forever, or to take it up again later. He can’t stay with Aunt Iris either: can’t stand seeing her and thinking about Uncle Barry. 

He still sees her sometimes. She says he’s welcome back anytime. His room is still there. 

But he can’t do it, and he stays at home. 

Uncle Hal can’t do it either. 

One day, Wally is walking home from school and he sees Hal Jordan leaning on a telephone pole on his way. Hal pushes off and gives Wally something that looks vaguely like a smile but doesn’t come close to touching his eyes or lifting the deep sadness in his face. 

Wally knows what Uncle Hal will say before he says it. 

“Hey, Kid. The Guardians have been harping on me to take better care of the rest of my sector, y’know. More than just Earth out there. And, uh, they said there could be another Green Lantern for Earth, if things ever got crazy enough down here. And I figured I should… take them up on… doing my job, right?”

Wally nods. Doing your job is important. You had to be there, as a hero, when people needed you. 

“So, I probably won’t be around… a lot.” 

Wally understands. 

Uncle Hal pauses, as if waiting for Wally to say something, but Wally doesn’t have anything to say. Wally can’t really think of anything. 

Uncle Hal nods. “Well, uh. Take care of yourself. Call if you ever need me. For anything.” 

Wally wouldn’t see Uncle Hal again for years.


	4. Chapter 4

_ Present day _

Wally felt his throat go dry, as he watched his Uncle Barry glance around him, before taking off in a blur of yellow and red. Wally had almost forgotten how much  _ faster _ Uncle Barry had been than him. 

Batman stiffened beside him, and, yeah, maybe Wally should’ve asked to watch this by himself. But then again… this was Batman. He’d probably known Uncle Barry was the Flash before Wally had. 

The camera tracked with Flash as he twisted and turned his way from Central to Star City. He came to a stop inside a boarded up building, and put a hand to his ear as he glanced around the shutters. 

_ “This is Flash. Come in, Batman?” _

And Wally felt his mind explode. 

He whirled on the figure beside him, but Batman didn’t even glance away from the screen. Wally couldn’t find the words to ask everything pounding through his mind, so he just stared. 

And, thankfully, Batman answered. 

“We were… friends.”

“ _ What _ ?”

“We met on a case. After that we would… partner, sometimes. I never said it, but I would consider him the first friend I made since becoming Batman.”

“He never  _ mentioned  _ you?”

“I didn’t want anyone to know I existed, yet. I asked him to keep me a secret.”

For the first time, Batman turned to look Wally straight in the eyes. “He asked me to take care of you if anything happened to him.”

Wally was struck dumb again, but the screen pulled his attention back to it’s hypnotizing kaleidoscope. 

_ “-ome in Batman?” _

Apparently, this time, he got a response, because he straightened. Batman’s voice came in, overlaid over the visuals, clearly a product of advanced audio enhancement.

_ “Batman to Flash. Are you in position?” _

_ “I’m here, but I haven’t found anything yet. I’m close, though. If I move in much closer, I think they might see me before I find them.” _

_ “We’re running out of time for caution. Whatever Mobius’s plan is, I’m becoming increasingly convinced it could result in the decimation of all life on Earth. Perhaps even beyond.” _

Uncle Barry ducked his head and grinned deprecatingly. 

_ “What a time for GL to be offworld.” _

_ “We  _ **_don’t_ ** _ need Green Lantern for this.” _

Wally whirled on Batman again, who again refused to make eye contact. “Jordan and I were… acquainted. I wouldn’t consider him more than a particularly aggravating colleague.”

_ “Well, if you’re so convinced, I guess I’ll see what I can find.” _

_ “There are strange readings coming from a building on the intersection of Fox and Carmine about 3 blocks to your right. I can’t pinpoint more than that.” _

Flash nodded, and dashed out again, sending Wally’s heart into his throat at the familiar humming of speed. 

He flickered into building after building, before screeching to a halt inside an exercise gym. 

_ “Something feels weird about this one, B. I think we’ve got something.” _

Barry put a hand up in the way he did when he was sensing vibrations, and closed his eyes.  _ “Yeah. This is it.” _

_ “Proceed with caution, Flash. This man goes by two names: Mobius and Anti-Monitor, and both are connected with more fear and power than I’ve ever seen any living being hold before.” _

Flash nodded, eyes narrowing in determination as he zeroed in on a closet, hand hovering over the metal knob.

_ “I’m always careful. Take care of yourself, Bats.” _

He threw the door open, and stepped into the whirling blue vortex inside. The camera zoomed in to follow behind him. 

Wherever he emerged, the very air was different, tainted with red. Flash gasped and stumbled a bit, clearly getting his bearings. His hand went right back up to his ear, as he tapped at the wing beside it. 

_ “Batman? Come in, Batman. Flash to Batman.” _ A pause, but nothing happened. 

Uncle Barry pursed his lips, but didn’t look surprised. His hand fell, and he took the time to take in his surroundings. 

He was on some kind of catwalk, surrounded by machinery, whirring incomprehensibly, with a thousand unknown functions. There were no people anywhere. 

The very walls pulsated with energy, unidentifiable, but undeniably powerful. The entire place emanated energy, power, something intimidating that dwarfed any single person in it’s domain. 

Uncle Barry didn’t look cowed. Wally didn’t understand it - how he could be so brave and stand so tall when everything around him was so huge and intimidating. Wally would’ve been cowering; could hardly not cower now, but Uncle Barry… nothing could make him back down.

Uncle Barry flickered into another room, where the energy in the walls seemed to be emanating from. The center. In the middle of the room, there was a huge red ball of energy, pulsating and shining with a dangerous, burning light, white streams of light playing around it. 

The ball of energy was surrounded by a circular metal track; itself fenced in by railing. Aside from a control panel, nothing else seemed to be inside the room. 

Uncle Barry dashed to the control panel and became a blur, checking instruments and attempting to comprehend readings to the best of his ability, and he began to mumble to himself. 

Wally remembered the mumbling. Whenever Uncle Barry had thought he was alone but had  _ so many _ thoughts he just couldn’t keep them in his head. 

_ “Batman said the Anti-Monitor was bragging about his weapon… now I know why!” _

Uncle Barry leaned back, eyes widening in horror. 

_ “He’s drawn together concentrated anti-matter as the cannon’s power source.” _

He glanced back at the swirling ball, and approached it, swaying again, just like when he’d entered this strange place.  _ “I can feel it weakening me... draining my energy… I - I haven’t got too long before I’m powerless to stop it.” _

Uncle Barry’s voice lowered to a murmur. 

_ “Trouble is, I know what’s going to happen to me if I’m successful.” _

He straightened, drew up, clenched his fists and set his jaw in that way that meant  _ nothing _ could ever dissuade him from what he had decided to do.

_ “But I have no choice.” _

_ “More than  _ **_my_ ** _ life is at stake.” _

Uncle Barry leapt forward, feet pounding against the serrated metal pathway; straining forward, faster and faster. 

_ “ _ **_Everything_ ** _ that’s ever mattered to me... everything that’s ever been important… the lives of everyone on Earth and throughout the universe… in the present, and the future...that’s what I’m fighting for now! _ ”

Uncle Barry shuddered, faltered, and pushed forward. His voice took on an almost desperate pitch, rising in volume as he pushed his voice into the emptiness of the chamber, talking to no one,  _ needing _ to talk…  _ “Unhhh, feel myself slowing down… my legs becoming stiff and leaden… But I can’t give in to the pain.” _

Wally shoved his cowl off his head, and felt tears start to streak down his face. 

_ “Have to keep running, faster than I ever have before, running _ **_against_ ** _ the flow of the anti-matter… forcing it’s energies back  _ **_in_ ** _ to the machine…” _

His voice lowered, still pitched desperate, but resigned.  _ “Funny how your mind wanders when… when you’re so close to death you can smell it coming. Mom and Dad… you can’t hear me, but I love you  _ **so** _ much.” _

Wally couldn’t help sobbing, stifling himself against his palm. 

_ “Iris… apart for so long, together for so short a time… remember me, Iris... Remember how much I cared.” _

_ “Fiona… Wally...Dexter… Ralph... Sue... Hal… all the people I loved…” _

Wally choked so hard he missed part of the recording. 

_ “-it hurts… hurts so much… forgive me for leaving you like I did. Understand why... please understand why.” _

Uncle Barry started staggering, gasping and barely forcing himself to keep moving forward, no matter what, keep moving forward. His voice was raw and scratchy and his lungs rattled with every breath. 

_ “Have to keep running… no matter how much it hurts… time… feel the time stream all around me… the Anti-Monitor’s opening some temporal portal… keep running, Barry... got to keep running… WALLY?” _

Wally watched in amazement as the anti-matter shimmered, parting for a blue portal that stayed just ahead of Uncle Barry, showing himself as Kid Flash. The Wally in the portal didn’t notice anything, though, and it soon faded away. 

“Notice him!” Wally’s broken voice overlaid Flash’s next words, and he clapped his hand back over his mouth. Uncle Barry’s body had started to shrivel, shrinking in on itself, flesh sagging and tightening and decaying unnaturally, and Uncle Barry’s face was filled with horror as panic started to leech into his voice. 

_ “Moving so fast I’m going  _ **_back through time_ ** _ …” _

The portal shifted, and it was the Joker, chased soon after by Batman who appeared, equally oblivious as Kid Flash had been. 

_ “J-Joker _ ?” Uncle Barry stuttered; gasping and trembling, and running always running as the beginnings of sobs tore themselves from his chest. 

_ “HELP... Someone - anyone! Please!” _

Wally shoved away streaming tears as Uncle Barry’s emaciation set his skin clinging to his bones, eyes ever growing as the lids rotted away, but the horror and desperation and fear in Uncle Barry’s voice was shoved aside as, somehow, he regained that strength, that fortitude that Wally had never understood. 

Raw and reedy, his voice rang out, conviction lacing every word, every syllable, even as his flesh rotted off and his voice echoed from his rapidly exposing skeleton. 

_ “Th-there’s always hope… there is  _ **_always hope_ ** _ … Time to save the world! Time.. back in time…”  _

_ “Do what you have to, we must save the world… we must save the world…” _

Wally’s ears rang with the deafening collapse of the anti-matter cannon, but Uncle Barry was already gone, his empty costume flung by the devastating explosion. 

There was a series of explosions that ripped through the fortress, the anti-matter that ran through the walls detonating blast after blast, before even Abra Kadabra’s final camera was disintegrated in the destruction.


	5. Epilogue

“I knew he died a hero. I knew it…” Wally whispered, still wiping away streams of tears, “I just didn’t know what he was doing… how much he saved…”

“It might have been the entire universe. I didn’t stop looking into the Anti-Monitor. He wanted to eliminate all positive matter in the universe and replace it with an anti-matter universe he could control. If he had been able to gather a foothold with his anti-matter cannon before Flash destroyed it, he might have become unstoppable.”

“You sent the note, didn’t you?”

Batman nodded. “I followed when Flash didn’t exit. It took some searching, but I was able to extract his uniform from the debris. But I was never sure of what happened to him. Or of what happened to the Anti-Monitor. I think he might have been in a different part of the facility… might have died in the explosion. Whatever happened, no one’s heard anything from him since.”

“And now that we have the Justice League… we’d be ready for him.”

Batman broke eye contact again. “If Green Lantern had been there… maybe he could’ve given Barry a shield. Maybe the anti-matter wouldn’t have been able to drain his life force. It became obvious that if there was even another threat to humanity on that scale… we needed to be willing to at least be… available for each other.”

Wally nodded, scrubbing at his eyes one more time. “Aunt I is gonna want to see this. Either we get this on a flash drive or she comes up here, but she’s gotta see…”

“I’ll work on it.” Wally nodded, and ducked his head before looking up again. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you knew him?”

There was no response for a long moment, and then: “Because it was my fault he died. Because what happened to him was over, and I didn’t want to bring it back.”

“It wasn’t… you can’t talk like that.” Wally took a deep breath to force the tears out of his eyes, as he focused on Batman. “He wouldn’t want you to say that.”

“I knew Mobius was dangerous. If I had called Jordan ahead of time, which I  _ could have done _ , then maybe Barry Allen would still be alive right now. It was my pride, my stubbornness and my distrust that killed your uncle. And there’s nothing anyone can say to change that.”

“It was the Anti-Monitor who killed my uncle. If you had known what would happen, you would’ve called Uncle Hal. You… you have to forgive yourself.” Wally made sure to repress his own anger until later. This was what Uncle Barry would’ve wanted, he was sure of it. “Even if some of it  _ was _ your fault… he’d want you to forgive yourself.”

The anger didn’t dissipate, though, so much as it swirled around looking for a new target to latch on to. “And, I mean, what’s up with me, huh? You saw how fast he was going. Why can’t  _ I _ do that? I mean, apparently that  _ is _ possible, so what kind of Flash am  _ I _ ?”   
  


“You mean how he didn’t disappear into the speed force.”

“Yeah! Why can’t I… run like that? Like him.”

Batman seemed more comfortable with this than the previous conversation, and tilted his head knowingly. 

“Maybe the laws of the speed force changed when Flash died. Or maybe, you  _ can _ run that fast, but you don’t want to.”

“I don’t want to run fast, and it sucks me into the speed force?”

“Your emotions affect your powers. You run best when you’re happy: we know this. But you’re scared; you’re always scared to use the full extent of your powers. Because Barry Allen died as The Flash, and you don’t want what happened to him to happen to you.”

Wally wasn’t sure how to feel about that, but this was 3rd or 4th on the list of things he didn’t know how to feel about today, so there was that. 

“Why haven’t  _ you _ told anyone about him?”

Wally’s shoulders slumped. “I… I guess… it seemed personal. Something no one needed to know about. But now… people should know. Especially the League, if no one else. I mean, I wear this to honor him, right? People should know who the  _ real _ Flash was. And how he saved the lives of everyone in this universe.”

“You should tell everyone about him,” Batman agreed. “But you  _ are _ the real Flash.”

“Maybe someday,” Wally murmured, looking down at the lightning bolt on his chest. “Maybe someday, I will be.”


End file.
